Carlsberg: X-ray AI that finds glass damaged at capping, with the cap on
When a bottle is capped, the glass at its mouth can chip or crack under the cap. From outside the damage is invisible, and a splinter of glass can end up in the beer. Carlsberg asked us whether AI could find it on X-ray images, with the cap still on.
The challenge
The cap covers exactly the place where the damage happens, so a camera cannot see it. X-ray sees through the cap, but a hairline crack in glass is a small detail on a large, bright image of the bottle neck.
What we did
- 32 X-ray images of bottles in February 2024, with damage from slight chips to severe cracks.
- A 6 mm steel ball in each image as the size reference.
- A model trained to find the damaged mouthpiece on the image of a capped bottle.
Results
The damage shows on X-ray with the cap on, from a slightly damaged bottle mouth to a broken mouthpiece, which is what makes an automatic check on the line possible.
How a test works
You send samples, including some with the defect you want to catch. We scan them, label the images and train a model, then report what it found and what it missed, before anything is installed on a line. That is the first step of a two-week proof of concept for Firecrux X-Ray QC.
X-ray images of bottle mouthpieces damaged at capping, found with the cap on. The 6 mm steel ball is the size reference.
